A new charge against Mr. Manning could carry the death penalty, though that is unlikely. Mr. Manning is accused of "aiding the enemy". The terrorist group Taliban has thanked Wikileaks and its source for the publication of U.S. war memos, which will be a useful recruiting tool and may offer info on local sources. (Source: Getty Images)

Private specialist is subject to 22 new charges, including aiding the enemy

At a jail
in Quantico, Virginia, Wikileaks confidante Bradley Manning received bad news
sometime in the last couple weeks, according to the U.S. Army. They have
filed 22 new charges against the 23-year-old former
U.S. Army Private.

I. A Capital Offense

Most notably, Mr. Manning has been charged with aiding
the enemy. According to the Army's Military Law manual (see link)
this charge can be applied against someone who directly or indirectly, gives
information to "the enemy".

It is punishable by death or "other punishment", with the decision
resting with the court martial committee.

In this case, "the enemy" could be hostile
terrorist groups like the Taliban or Al Qaeda that may have benefited
from the intelligence info revealed in the published Army field memos.
According to reports, the Taliban officials are aware of the leaks and expressed
appreciation to Wikileaks and its sources for their
publication, saying they will find them useful.

Or the "enemy" in this charge could also be Wikileaks itself.
Approximately 97 percent of the site's currently published leaked
documents pertain to the U.S. And site leader Julian Assange called on
hackers to be anarchists and resist government influence in a seminal 90s book
on the hacking scene.

The military manual states that the "enemy" can be a "hostile
body" and "civilians as well as members of military
organizations".

The Department of Defense was careful to point in a Twitter post out that one of the charges was a capital
offense. It is unlikely, however, that the Army will seek the death
penalty, not so much because of Manning's age, but out of the basic fact that
the U.S. seldom executes its spies.
In the modern era the only people to be executed for espionage during the
modern era were the Rosenbergs, who met the death penalty in the 1950s at the
height of anti-communist fervor.

While Manning's case is exemplary, its unlikely prosecutors will seek death.
In fact, CBS News is reporting that
the Army's prosecution team will not recommend execution to the two-star
general who is in charge of proceeding with legal action.

II. Other Charges

While the "aiding the enemy" charge obviously carries the most
gravity, Mr. Manning also faces a laundry list of other charges.

The charges are split into sections labeled "Charge X", where 'X' is
the roman numeral of the section. Each Charge has additional sub-charges,
dubbed "Specifications". There are 22 Specifications in the new
document (hence 22 "charges" in plain English).

Capt. John Haberland, a legal spokesman for the Military District of Washington
writes in a statement, "The new charges more accurately reflect the broad
scope of the crimes that Pvt. 1st Class Manning is accused of committing."

Section II opens with a general charge in Specification 1 of
publishing U.S. Military Intelligence.

Specification 2 accuses him of illegally leaking a video called "12
JUL 07 CZ ENGAGEMENT ZONE 30 GC Anyone.avi", a tape of a chopper attack
that killed civilians. This video became part of Wikileaks'
"Collateral Murder" documentary. Specification 11 covers
the release of "a file named 'BE22 PAX.zip' containing a video named 'BE22
PAX.wmv.'" This likely is the video of the 2009 Afghani airstrike
that Wikileaks published.

Specifications 4-7 line up with other significant Wikileaks publications.
For example the charges state that Mr. Manning stands accused of
illegally sharing a "Combined Information Data Network Exchange Iraq
database containing more than 380,000 records." This is likely the
392,000 record database of Iraq War memos that Wikileaks published
last year. And other charges pertain to the release of 90,000
Afghanistan War memos.

In both cases, the release of a small number of classified memos was separated
into additional charges.

Specification 8 refers to the release of "700 records" from the
"United States Southern Command". This likely refers to records
of Guatánamo Bay detainees that Wikileaks allegedly currently
has possession of and is preparing to release.

Interestingly, he also apparently illegally shared a massive database of U.S.
Military personnel emails. According to Specification 16 he
obtained "the United States Forces -Iraq Microsoft Outlook / SharePoint
Exchange Server global address list", which he passed along.

Charge III contains the most "pedestrian" accusations, language
pertaining to computer crimes. He stands accused of "attempting to
bypass network or information system security mechanisms", "adding
unauthorized software to a Secret Internet Protocol Router Network
computer" (SIPRNET), "using an information system in a manner other
than its intended purpose", "wrongfully storing classified
information".

These charges, for the most part, seem straightforward.

III. What's Next for Bradley Manning and Wikileaks

Our sources close to the investigation indicate that the
chat logs in which Bradley Manning confessed
to convicted ex-hacker Adrian Lamo were authenticated by the U.S.
Military, dispelling conspiracy theories by the likes of Salon's Glenn
Greenwald. The Military was careful to verify the logs before it pressed
forward with additional charges.

The logs were verified by forensic comparison of Mr. Lamo's hard drive with
machine that Mr. Manning was chatting from.

Adrian Lamo says he will cooperate fully with the government investigation and
says that history would indicate that the death penalty is unlikely for Mr.
Manning. He comments:

It's important that the charges be commensurate in penalty with
the offense. This is a unique case, and right or not, will be seen as a test
case for deterring others. The prosecutors are surely aware of the complexities
of the matter. The length of time that has passed prior to bringing these
charges shows the care and fairness that has gone into ensuring due process in
this matter reflects the seriousness with which the government is treating the
bifurcated issues of Manning's rights and the need to justly prosecute this
case.

A trial date has not been set yet for Mr. Manning, as the Military continues
its investigation.

Mr. Manning's attorney apparently expected the charges, commenting in a blog, "The defense has been preparing for
the possibility of additional charges in this case."

In January he filed a complaint on
behalf of Mr. Manning, accusing the Military of holding Mr. Manning in unpleasant
conditions. Mr. Manning comments in the complaint:
"I sit in my cell for 24 hours a day. I am stripped of all clothing with
the exception of my underwear. My prescription eyeglasses are taken away from
me. I am forced to sit in essential blindness...Additionally, there is a guard
sitting outside of my cell watching me at all times."

Wikileaks was noticeably not named or discussed in
the additional charges. That's because the Justice Department is pursuing
a separate case against Wikileaks and its founder Julian
Assange and it will deal with those charges separately.

Mr. Assange recently publicly claimed
his site need $31M USD a year in donations to survive -- more than
twice the budget of Wikipedia. According to past reports, the site
maintains less than five full time employees and enjoys free hosting. It
also maintains a small legal team. It is unclear where the remainder of
the requested donations would be applied.

Wikileaks responded to the charges with a Twitter post, remarking:

Capital charge 'aiding the enemy' is a vindictive attack on
Manning for exercising his right to silence. No evidence of any such thing.

Mr. Assange faces charges of his own. Recently bailed out of English
prison by U.S. film director Michael Moore, he is awaiting extradition to
Sweden for a sex crimes charge.

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This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled

That's completely false. Even the DOD has come out and finally said that no real damaging information has be release. No lives have actually be put in danger by it. Manning is getting hit by the book because our government hates whistle blowers that show their bad deeds and corruption. Our own government has failed us yet again. Manning should be considered a hero for what he did.

Simply remember the Pentagon Papers and who released them. The man got off because he was a whistle blower. They tired to prosecute him and the news paper and failed at both in the courts. I deeply feel for Manning and hope that even in the military court system he'll be freed for showing light on the wrong doings of our corrupt government.

You can donate money by clicking the 'donate' link here www.bradleymanning.org

That's what I did, even though I'm 99% sure it won't make a difference given the thirst that American authorities have for injustices and abuse of power and their relentless efforts to prevent anyone from stopping them.